No projeto em que este artigo se baseia, foram analisados os artigos científicos publicados entre janeiro de 2020 e abril de 2021 sobre as desigualdades associadas à Covid-19.

The Social Observatory of the ”la Caixa” Foundation has announced a call to support research projects on education and society in Portugal.

People who work in research are a pillar of the system. Are the working conditions of this sector favourable in Portugal and Spain or are they forcing a brain drain?

What are the factors that define a country’s research and innovation system? The first Dossier from the Social Observatory of the ”la Caixa” Foundation analyses the case of Spain and Portugal in international comparison.

Portugal, together with Denmark, is an exception within the framework of the EU-27 and has percentages of women scientists and engineers that slightly exceed the European average.

While the participation of female PhD holders in Portugal is situated above the EU‑27 average in all fields of knowledge considered, in Spain the participation of female PhD holders is situated below the European average in the fields of art, humanities and social sciences.

In Portugal and Spain, the proportion of innovative companies, and the degree to which these collaborate with other companies and organisations, is below the EU-27 average

In 2019, the percentage of total public spending assigned to R&D was 0.82% in Portugal and  1.24% in Spain, both below the EU-27 average.

Despite growth in the last 10 years, the relative position of Portugal and Spain, with regard to patent applications, is a long way behind that of countries that are leaders in innovation.

Does Portugal attract more talent than Spain? In 2020, the attraction of international talent was situated above the European average (18.7%) in the case of Portugal (29.1%) and below the average (17.2%) in the case of Spain

Portugal and Spain are situated above the European average in percentage of women researchers in all sectors considered, although the lowest participation corresponds to the business sector and the highest, to the governmental sector.

Spain stands at the head of the countries of the EU-27 in the global computation of digital society indicators (connectivity, Internet use, etc). Portugal, however, is situated at the tail end.

Who publishes most: men or women? The percentage of women who publish in the STEM areas in Portugal and Spain is higher than the European average, which reflects how the proportion of women researchers in the academic sector exceeds, in turn, the European average.

Who invents most: men or women?  The proportion in Portugal is one out of every four and in Spain, one out of every fiver. Do they exceed the European average?

Portugal is in an intermediate situation in relation to the leading countries in environmental innovation, whereas Spain is among the leading countries.